258 A MIRROR OF THE TURF. 



which, however, he was defeated. Bloomsbury 

 never ran as a two-year-old, the Derby being his 

 first race. As " Wildrake " says, in his " Pictorial 

 Gallery of English Race-horses " : " He was a most 

 fortunate horse — though most unfortunate to his 

 owners and backers. He won the Derby and a 

 lawsuit. He caused the non-settlement of a 

 settlement. He embroiled Lords and Commons, 

 enriched poor men, impoverished wealth, and 

 made all the world stare when their eyes were 

 opened." 



Ridsdale, as has been indicated, lost his nerve ; 

 with confidence in himself gone, he forsook the 

 old haunts where he had been so well received, 

 he shunned his former intimates, and gradually 

 became so reduced in purse as to be without a 

 lodging. In the end he was found dead in a 

 stable loft at Newmarket, with three-halfpence in 

 his pocket. 



CROCKFORD. 



There is a story relating to the life of Crock- 

 ford, or rather to his death, which has been so often 

 told that it has come to be accepted as true. 

 I have never myself, however, given credence 

 to it, inquiry having satisfied me that the 

 narrative is simply in the nature of a fable ; but 

 for all that it is worth repeating as being in 

 some degree illustrative of the more "hectic" 

 features of sport as it was carried on fifty or 

 sixty years ago. 



As all versed in our racing records already 

 know, the race for the Oaks in the year 1844 

 was won by Princess, an animal which had been 

 very heavily backed by William Crockford, both 



